Plastic Straws, Which RCL Ships Have Done Away With

[JAMESCC]

Yes, after eating 80 plastic bags in a filthy canal in Thailand.. I personally would love to see plastic shopping bags banned. They are to me a PIA and I see no benefit they offer compared to paper bags. If anything is going to take to the skies (migrate as some are claiming) plastic bags would win any long distance race over a straw.

 

No doubt plastic in the oceans is a bad thing but banning straws isn't a cure or even a band aid to the ocean's ecological disaster that is mostly of Asian origin.

 

bosco

I disagree immensely, every little bit helps.

 

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[John&LaLa]

Yes, after eating 80 plastic bags, probably filled with Thai food trash, like fish parts, in a filthy canal in Thailand.. I personally would love to see plastic shopping bags banned. They are to me a PIA and I see no benefit they offer compared to paper bags. If anything is going to take to the skies (migrate as some are claiming) plastic bags would win any long distance race over a straw.

 

No doubt plastic in the oceans is a bad thing but banning straws isn't a cure or even a band aid to the ocean's ecological disaster that is mostly of Asian origin.

 

bosco

Don't we ship trash to Asia?

 

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[dswallow]

Banning something doesn't make it go away. Making something illegal doesn't make that something no longer happen. Focusing money and energy on 0.03% of the problem instead of almost anything else in the world of plastic problems is a waste of money and energy. It's little more than saying something like "let's ban coffee so we save the whales from eating plastic bags." It is not going to make one iota of difference to the problems.

 

And frankly the presence of any of this stuff is not the problem; it's the improper disposal of it. Think about: "Let's ban cars because they pollute the air." No, maybe we should make cars that don't pollute the air so much or at all. See the difference?

[ElaineKeagy]

I disagree immensely, every little bit helps.

 

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I disagree with you.

 

 

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[JAMESCC]

I disagree with you.

 

 

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You disagree with every little bit helps? That's genius.

 

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[Wine-O]

I haven't been following this thread but let me guess the nuts on here think its tyranny because RCI, a private corporation is doing away with plastic straws to save the oceans just a little abuse? Am I correct?

No, we're just commenting because some of us believe it is a stupid knee-jerk idea by some liberal who works for RCI and wants to think this is going to save the planet.

 

I have not once in all the times that I have cruised witnessed anyone disposing of their straws into the ocean. The used straws are disposed along with the rest of the ship's trash. I would think that all of this trash would go to a landfill, not poured into the ocean.

[JAMESCC]

No, we're just commenting because some of us believe it is a stupid knee-jerk idea by some liberal who works for RCI and wants to think this is going to save the planet.

 

I have not once in all the times that I have cruised witnessed anyone disposing of their straws into the ocean. The used straws are disposed along with the rest of the ship's trash. I would think that all of this trash would go to a landfill, not poured into the ocean.

It's not always liberal/conservative you nut. There is nothing wrong with trying to make the ocean cleaner. What is wrong people on this board? How is it a bad thing to try to make the world cleaner, the oceans cleaner?

 

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[Jeannie333333]

Most of you are old enough to remember when paper straws were the ONLY straws.

 

We survived.

 

 

Excellent - we did indeed!! :)

[Jeannie333333]

It's not always liberal/conservative you nut. There is nothing wrong with trying to make the ocean cleaner. What is wrong people on this board? How is it a bad thing to try to make the world cleaner, the oceans cleaner?

 

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Hear hear...shocking disregard for the plant :o

[KansasK]

I think Royal Caribbean introduced plastic straws for most drinks around 2010. I remember no straws for a glass of diet coke on our cruises for a long time on RCI. I went on a Carnival cruise in 2009 and they put a plastic straw in my glass of diet coke throughout the cruise. I said to my husband that it must be because they are an American cruise line and Royal Caribbean isn't, and Carnival knew Americans use straws. Maybe?

 

I liked getting the plastic straws in a glass of diet coke, but if they go away again, I will just drink from the glass.

 

I agree about paper straws collapsing or getting soggy and falling apart. If they are like cardboard as one poster said, maybe they will stay together longer and be stronger. I would give them a try, but probably will go back to being strawless again on RCI.

[RocketMan275]

It's not always liberal/conservative you nut. There is nothing wrong with trying to make the ocean cleaner. What is wrong people on this board? How is it a bad thing to try to make the world cleaner, the oceans cleaner?

 

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Nothing is wrong with making the oceans cleaner but it is important to realize that there are costs associated with crusades like doing away with plastic which may actually have unanticipated consequences that make the problem worse.

 

For example, Starbucks solution to straws actually requires more plastic than the old system. Why make the problem worse? Or, I remember the old paper straws and they were less durable than the plastic ones. What if the reduced durability results in more straws being used and an increased impact on the environment?

[Wine-O]

It's not always liberal/conservative you nut. There is nothing wrong with trying to make the ocean cleaner. What is wrong people on this board? How is it a bad thing to try to make the world cleaner, the oceans cleaner?

 

It's not liberal/conservative -- it's just plain stupid. Let me ask you, how many plastic straws have you seen being thrown into the ocean during all your cruises -- Probably NONE! Nobody throws straws into the ocean. It's all knee-jerk, feel good, blah, blah, blah. RCI with or without plastic straws is not going to make one iota affect on the ocean.

 

I wonder if the genius at RCI who thought this up realized that it cost much more to make and purchase paper straws.

[JAMESCC]

Nothing is wrong with making the oceans cleaner but it is important to realize that there are costs associated with crusades like doing away with plastic which may actually have unanticipated consequences that make the problem worse.

 

For example, Starbucks solution to straws actually requires more plastic than the old system. Why make the problem worse? Or, I remember the old paper straws and they were less durable than the plastic ones. What if the reduced durability results in more straws being used and an increased impact on the environment?

Yeah but you see these posts. They specifically saying trying is dumb in the first place. Maybe people should just drink from the cup like I do. I hate all kinds of straws. They are annoying.

 

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[JAMESCC]

It's not liberal/conservative -- it's just plain stupid. Let me ask you, how many plastic straws have you seen being thrown into the ocean during all your cruises -- Probably NONE! Nobody throws straws into the ocean. It's all knee-jerk, feel good, blah, blah, blah. RCI with or without plastic straws is not going to make one iota affect on the ocean.

 

I wonder if the genius at RCI who thought this up realized that it cost much more to make and purchase paper straws.

Oh well if I don't see it, it must not be happening. How many disgusting cigarettes end up in the ocean, a freaking ton and that it just as bad. The ocean is not a dumpster.

 

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[dswallow]

There's also another side to the whole plastic straw banning problem: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/07/12/plastic-straw-bans-are-the-latest-policy-to-forget-the-disability-community/?utm_term=.66d6f5f21cce

[boscobeans]

You disagree with every little bit helps? That's genius.

 

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So when the environmentalists continue along that slippery slope and attack the fact that a ship burns over 11,000 gallons of fuel each hour and come up with carbon emission figures and the like to prove you and all of us who have cruised for years are among the biggest dangers to the entire planet just for our own narcissistic pleasure, what then?

 

Tell them we don't use plastic straws?

 

How about making sure that all plastics that don't decompose or aren't recyclable, like straws, plastic bags and the myriad other types of packaging materials, many on every shelf in every supermarket and in many refrigerators at home, have a better way of disposal?

 

Let's go beyond one little step and work on a true solution. It's been almost 50 years since we walked on the moon and we can't come up with a way to dispose of a straw, but just make a law.????

 

bosco

[JAMESCC]

So when the environmentalists continue along that slippery slope and attack the fact that a ship burns over 11,000 gallons of fuel each hour and come up with carbon emission figures and the like to prove you and all of us who have cruised for years are among the biggest dangers to the entire planet just for our own narcissistic pleasure, what then?

 

Tell them we don't use plastic straws?

 

How about making sure that all plastics that don't decompose or aren't recyclable, like straws, plastic bags and the myriad other types of packaging materials, many on every shelf in every supermarket and in many refrigerators at home, have a better way of disposal?

 

Let's go beyond one little step and work on a true solution. It's been almost 50 years since we walked on the moon and we can't come up with a way to dispose of a straw, but just make a law.????

 

bosco

Ok, but we aren't talking about supermarkets. We are talking about cruise ships and if RCI decides this what they want to do I'm all for it. Every little bit helps. Just cause the supermarket has plastic crap doesn't mean RCI can't try and make oceans clean

 

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[dswallow]

If RCL wants to make the oceans cleaner, they could adapt some of the interesting plastic/trash skimmers being created into something they can use during the cruise or during port visits.

[ptf2009]

I use straws to keep my teeth white:)

[ptf2009]

Why can’t they have paper straws?

[ptf2009]

Why can’t they have paper straws?

[boscobeans]

Ok, but we aren't talking about supermarkets. We are talking about cruise ships and if RCI decides this what they want to do I'm all for it. Every little bit helps. Just cause the supermarket has plastic crap doesn't mean RCI can't try and make oceans clean

 

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Find a law and not a solution.. Maybe all those thousands of yogurt cups emptied each day will be banned next. How about some yogurt in a bag, drink stirrers, olive spears and even toothpicks as well...

 

We have different opinions as well as different ideas as to the solution to what IS a problem.

 

I respect your motives but do not agree with your solutions.

 

bosco

[JAMESCC]

Fine a law and not a solution.. Maybe all those thousands of yogurt cups emptied each day will be banned next. How about some yogurt in a bag, drink stirrers, olive spears and even toothpicks as well...

 

We have different opinions as well as different ideas as to the solution to what IS a problem.

 

I respect your motives but do not agree with your solutions.

 

bosco

I don't have a solution. It's RCIs choice and commend them. Every bit helps. That's all. It's just a straw, we will all live to see another day. We didn't recycle when I was a kid and we do a ton now. That is a good thing, not bad.

 

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[squadron]

I don't get the fascination people have with plastic straws. I understand that elderly people and people with disabilities need straws and even some of us love our straws but isn't a paper single use straw good enough?

 

I agree - what is the obsession with plastic straws?? Also didn't know that adults needed straws to the extend that it is traumatic that they are being replaced with paper ones. Buy one of the stainless steel ones if necessary.

[squadron]

Find a law and not a solution.. Maybe all those thousands of yogurt cups emptied each day will be banned next. How about some yogurt in a bag, drink stirrers, olive spears and even toothpicks as well...

 

We have different opinions as well as different ideas as to the solution to what IS a problem.

 

I respect your motives but do not agree with your solutions.

 

bosco

 

Most towns and cities have been asking people to "blue bag" plastic containers etc etc for at least 10 years! The blue bag program is part of garbage pickup. Also so is the recovery of "organic waste" - food scraps if you don;t compost at home. Separate green biodegradable bag.